A Review of the Bali Concealer Bras

American women have a thing about nipples… they don’t want anyone to know they have any. In fact, American women have also become a little obsessed with not wanting any suggestion of a bra showing under their garment. Over the last 10 years the goal has been to walk around with two beautifully shaped and separated half-spheres on the front of our bodies without any tell-tale sign of a seam, nipple or support. Quite a tall order for the bra manufacturers of America, don’t you think?

This year, the manufacturer of Bali bras (Hanes Brands) came out with a line of bras called Bali Concealers. Touting this line as the ultimate beauty secret, these bras are the first to be seamless with a revolutionary concealing petal built inside the cup of the bra to provide modesty (read no nipple show-through).

There are three bras styles in this collection – Underwire, wirefree and minimizer. Customers on our site have been rather vocal about these bras, so allow me to summarize what is being said about each.

The Bali Concealers Underwire Bra 3411 has an overall rating of 3-1/2 stars out of 5. Upon reading the 23 reviews posted so far, a very interesting trend appears. All the negative reviews are from women who wear 32 and 44 band sizes. All the other sizes are quite content with this bra. Clearly there is a sizing issue that Bali needs to look at. For the 32 band sizes, the complaints are consistant that the band is too tight and cups in the DD sizing run too large. The 44 D and DD sizes are complaining that the band and cups are running large and not giving side support. So, the results are pretty straightforward. Women with sizing 34 to 42 seem very happy with the bra and feel it does its job of concealing.

The Bali Concealers Wire Free Bra 3413 has a strong 4 star rating out of 5. With 25 reviews, there is no specific complaint. Of course, some women don’t like any padding in their cups, but to be realistic, you can’t have no padding and no-nipple show-through at the same time. All in all, women like this bra very much.

The Bali Concealers Minimizer Underwire Bra 3414 is sitting with only 3 out of 5 stars. Upon reading the 22 reviews, this rating, in my opinion is very unfair. Here’s why. First, several reviews complain that the bra fit too tightly across their breasts. Now, come on… This bra is a minimizer! A minimizer bra is designed to reduce breast projection so that a woman can wear a button-down shirt and not have that look like her buttons are about to pop off. So, a minimizer bra will feel a little tight because that is it’s job. It makes me wonder if the women complaining about the bra being too tight knew that they were buying a minimizer bra? Their comments suggest that they didn’t. The other complaint was that the cups were too thick. Now, these women complaining knew they were buying a minimizer because their concern was that they didn’t want to add bulk to their already large bustline. However, again, I think this complaint is unrealistic. All minimizers on the market have cups without any kind of padding for modesty. Bali was the first to come out with a minimizer that also provides modesty. To do this, something has to be in the cups to push the nipple back and give a smooth look. And, in order to do this, some small amount of padding needs to be in the cup. Given these facts, this bra is being given a bad rap. It’s doing what it promises to do – minimizing and stopping nipple-show-through.

Prior to these Bali Concealers bras, there have been nipple covers by Dimrs Fashion Forms and Wacoal on the market that you can slip into your existing bra to give the same look. However, they too have their issues because in some bras the edge is visible. Bali merged this idea into one bra and does a great job of hiding show-through without a flower-like edge showing through, but it doesn’t allow you to retrofit your existing bras.

All in all, Bali has come up with a great idea, and women seem to be embracing the Bali Concealers line. Chalk one up for Bali – they came up with something new and needed in the bra category.

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1 Comment

Becky

November 18, 2010 at 9:44 pm

You are so right about what it is we want in a bra — we are pretty tough customers! And I love the Bali concealer premise, and the combination of it with a minimizer bra, because most minimizers have absolutely no padding (well, duh, but still…you need a little something sometimes.) But this particular bra is the most uncomfortable bra I have ever worn. I wear a 34D, and what is uncomfortable is the straps! They cut into my shoulders like no other bra ever thought of doing. If they could change the straps I’d probably be fairly happy, though I would also like the bra to be a little higher cut in the cups.